BWI Airport saw near miss between plane and vehicle on the runway, FAA says
BALTIMORE -- The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a close call at BWI Thurgood Marshall airport between a Southwest jet and an ambulance.
The January incident is only now coming to light and is one of many that have raised alarm about aviation safety in recent months.
WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren reports BWI-Marshall Airport said new safety measures are now in place after a fire and rescue vehicle crossed onto a runway when it should not have done so.
The Southwest jet was taking off for Chicago on January 12 and came within 173 feet, a distance of about half a football field, from colliding with an ambulance on runway 15.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration's preliminary incident report obtained by WJZ, the plane was traveling the equivalent of 168 miles an hour, and the medic vehicle was allowed to cross one runway and told to wait for the plane, but the driver.
BWI wrote in a statement, "The airport fully cooperated and shared information with the FAA regarding the incident."
A spokesperson added, "New procedures were immediately implemented to help ensure safety and to prevent a similar incident in the future. Safety and security remain the highest priorities for BWI Marshall Airport."
The FAA held its first emergency safety summit in 14 years last week to address several concerns including at least seven other near misses at U.S. Airports in the past three months.
That includes a near collision three weeks ago between American and United jets at nearby Washington Regan National airport.
"These recent incidents must serve as a wake up call for every single one of us before something more catastrophic occurs," National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said.
The NTSB is searching for commonalities that may have contributed to the incidents, such as communication breakdowns, situational awareness lapses and inadequate training. The board has suggested implementing safety technology to prevent such incidents, but as of now, it has only been installed in approximately 40 airports nationwide.
Some analysts blame a rise in post pandemic travel combined with staff shortages and a surge in new hires.
"Certainly, during COVID aviation industry was really affected greatly. And so now we're short-staffed playing catch up and the system is under pressure," Captain Sully Sullenberger, the Miracle on the Hudson pilot and aviation security analyst, told CBS News. "We're seeing these kind of incidents pop up as warnings to not try to fly more than we should, not to try to do more than we should with the system that we have."
On Wednesday, the FAA released a new "call to action" safety alert that urged airlines and airports to increase communications over safety and review runway safety procedures.
Still, experts said the country's aviation system remains extraordinarily safe.